Author Topic: forgotten aspect of 18th century hunting  (Read 14871 times)

northmn

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Re: forgotten aspect of 18th century hunting
« Reply #25 on: April 11, 2012, 07:57:50 PM »
When trekking into hostile territory most went in "brigades" as the mountain men did.  Made sense also as there are more threats in the frontier than just hostiles.
Rifles have been documented to be popular with the "longhunters" who hunted for a living.  But I think we have a modern misconception about how they were used.  First there is the issue of the smaller calibers whcih make a lot of sense.  But couple them also with lighter charges than we use today.  If I were to ask about hunting with a 45 most would recommend about 60-70 grains of BP for deer.  Yet recommendations still exist to load a rifle till one hears a "crack" and older measures were also at smaller capacity.  The crack is easily achieved in a 45 at about 40 grains.  A 120 grain bullet launched at a little over 1100 fps might surprise the modern hunter in its effectiveness.  At about the turn of the 20 century, calibers like the 32-20 were developed which were commonly called "trappers rifles"   These were said to be good for both large and smaller game and were used as such.  A 40 ML will about duplicate a 32-20 when loaded lighter and theere seemd to exist more than a few calibers between 40-45 as ML calibers were not really all that standardized.  JF Cooper wrote about loading rifles light in his Pathfinder series.  Careful shooting permits the use of smaller calibers and allows one to carry more shots per weight. 

DP

Offline Eric Smith

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Re: forgotten aspect of 18th century hunting
« Reply #26 on: April 11, 2012, 08:54:42 PM »
One must also consider that the men who lived in the middle of the 18th century grew up in a time of the birth of the rifled barrel. Consider the kids today who grow up in the era of the iphone and laptop. These men were probably more proficient that the average modern day hobbiest I dare say.
Eric Smith